HSS Classic Symposium 2013

The HSS (Helsingfors Segelsällskap) yacht club is one of the oldest yacht clubs in Finland. Today it is also the “Classic yacht” club of Finland with a very high percentage of beautiful classic yachts in the club fleet. 2013 is a special year for HSS as the club turns 120 years. Thus the annual HSS Classic Symposium 2013 was particularly ambitious as it was part of the HSS 120 year celebration. The Symposium was held on February 9, 2013 at the Helsinki Convention Center in connection to the Helsinki International Boat Show.

Tapio Saavalainen, himself an A class racer, discusses the birth and evolution of the Finnish A class sailboat. The A class was developed in on the request of the Finnish Sailing Association. It was a design class intended for both cruising and racing. The class design was completed in 1935 and the first boat sailed in 1936. Some 30+ A class boats were built over the years and a bit more than 10 still sail in Finland. For slides and video on Slideshare, click here and for the video only on Youtube, click here.

If you make up your mind to race in the Olympics at age 12 and get a sailing boat as consolation after your father passes away, then it will be exceedingly hard to avoid the fate of becoming a sailor and a racer. Jussi Gullichsen, the Grand Old man of Finnish sail racing, discusses these and many other interesting topics related to sailing 5.5’s. For the video and slides on Slideshare, click here and for the video only on Youtube, click here.

Club Renata is an association that intends to restore the very badly damaged 6mR yacht Renata. Renata is interesting because it belonged to Henrik Ramsay, a sailor and very influential politician in Finland. Renata won the 1928 Sandhamn regatta which in its time was a significant achievement as most of the best sailors of the time participated in the regatta.